


Clair de Lune

by humanoidfemale



Category: Hatoful Kareshi | Hatoful Boyfriend
Genre: Eventual Romance, M/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-09
Updated: 2019-01-09
Packaged: 2019-10-07 02:10:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,324
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17356967
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/humanoidfemale/pseuds/humanoidfemale
Summary: Ryouta discovers Sakuya can play the piano.





	Clair de Lune

**Author's Note:**

> This was written as a secret Santa gift for tumblr user care-uh! I specialize in crack-fics, so I hope you all enjoy my attempt at something actually serious.

The halls were quiet. Mostly everybirdie had left for the day, except for Ryouta. Being as unhealthy as he was, it didn’t come to anybirdie’s surprise that he would need to stay after school in the infirmary from time to time. Although Doctor Iwamine’s treatments didn’t seem to help, it was all Ryouta could do for himself.

As Ryouta trudged out of the infirmity, giving Doctor Iwamine a courteous good-bye, he was surprised to hear the sound of a piano echoing through the halls. As he continued walking, the sound become clearer. The song was somewhat familiar to him, Clair de Lune. They had gone over Debussy briefly during their music class and remembered Sakuya seemed to be enamored with both Debussy’s composition and the poem it was based off of. It wasn’t all that surprising since both the composer and poem were french.

As much as he wanted to take a peak at who was playing, he was nearly late to work and had to get in gear. Bills don’t pay themselves after all.

* * *

A few weeks later, he was forced to make another after-school visit to the infirmary. Nothing of note happened, just the doctor administering medicine and him resting in a cot for a bit. Hiyoko even popped in to check if he was doing alright before going home. Luckily for Ryouta, he didn’t have work so he could take it easy.

After about thirty minutes of rest Ryouta got up, thanked the doctor, and headed out into the hallway. Once again, he could hear the same tune echoing in the empty halls. With nothing pressing to do, he decided to investigate.

As he climbed the stairs, the melody became clearer. What Ryouta hadn’t noticed the first time was how forlorn it sounded. The original was sad to be sure, but this was downright depressing.

He continued towards the music room, he made sure to keep his footsteps as quiet as possible. As he reached the door, the music suddenly stopped. He heard the panicked rustling of paper and movement of stools. Ryouta peeked into the room and, to his surprise, saw nobirdie. Did they hide? He pondered this for a bit and decided it was best to leave them be since it was clear they didn’t want to be seen.

* * *

He couldn’t get the song out of his head. The beauty of the playing, melancholy it portrayed, the fact that the one playing didn’t want to be caught. Even with his light footsteps, the bird playing still heard Ryouta and hid. Why? Someone with that much talent shouldn’t be hiding. He thought to himself.

“Ryouta?” a voice questioned, their hand waving in front of his face.

“Huh? Oh, hey Hiyoko,” Ryouta said, snapping out of his thoughts.

She crossed her arms, “You’ve been spacing out all day, are you ok?”

“I…” Ryouta paused.

Hiyoko put her hand on his head and smiled softly. “It’s ok if you don’t want to talk about it.”

Ryouta looked up at her, “It’s not that. I just keep thinking about this song… And the bird playing it, I guess.”

Hiyoko smiled wider, this time with an air of mischief. “Oh?” She pulled her seat over and sat down next to him, “Do tell.”

“Well…” Ryouta began, “A few days ago when I was leaving the infirmary I heard somebirdie playing a melody on the piano. It wasn’t the first time, but since I didn’t have work that day I wanted to see who it was.”

Hiyoko leaned in, “Mhm?”

“When I went up to the music room to see, they hid. It seems like they didn’t want anybirdie to see them playing. And I…” Ryouta looked down at his desk, “…I just can’t get the melody out of my head. It just sounds so sad. It’s like the bird playing it is really hurting.” Ryouta twiddled his feathers, “I guess it’s none of my business, but if somebirdie is hurting that bad…”

“You want to help,” Hiyoko finished.

Ryouta nodded.

“There’s only one thing to do then, lets try and catch them.”

* * *

After school, the two of them decided to hide themselves in the neighboring classroom. They waited one day. And then came back the next day. And then the next.

“Hiyoko, I don’t think-”

She put her hand over his beak. “My hunter-gatherer instincts are tingling. I know they’re coming.”

“You’re just lucky I don’t have work today either,” Ryouta whispered.

Ryouta looked down at the ground, maybe he had scared them away that one time. They probably don’t want to risk being caught again.

“I… I think we should just drop it, Hiyoko.”

She looked at him, “What? Why?”

Ryouta looked towards the window to the hallway, “They didn’t want to be found, so we should just-”

Footsteps.

Hiyoko looked towards the hallway in anticipation, “I told you.”

Through the window they could see bright white feathers as a bird walked by. They then heard the music room door slide open and closed. A few beats later, they began to be enveloped in the same melody Ryouta had listened to before. “They… they’re back.”

Hiyoko silently went towards the door and motioned for Ryouta to follow. If there was one thing a hunter-gatherer could do, it would be sneaking up on prey.

The two of them crouched outside the music room door, looking through the window. Ryouta couldn’t believe what he was seeing.

“Is that…” Hiyoko whispered.

Sitting in front of the piano was that last bird they had expected: Sakuya Le Bel.

Hiyoko patted Ryouta on the back, gave a thumbs up with a wink, and slithered away down the hall. Her job was done.

Ryouta continued to watch Sakuya play. The way his feathers effortlessly glided across the keys, the sorrowful look on the nobelbird’s face. Ryouta couldn’t help but blush as he listened. How could a melody so sad come from a bird like Sakuya? He was usually so…

Without thinking Ryouta stood up and slid the door open. As soon as he did, Sakuya abruptly stopped playing. He shot his eyes towards the direction of the intruder with a look, first of anger, then embarrassment.

“M-mongrel!” He half-yelled. He quickly began to pick up his sheet music, “How dare you sneak up on a bird such as myself? You filthy-”

“Don’t stop,” was all Ryouta could say as he continued to stare.

Sakuya huffed, “You think you can order me-”

Ryouta interrupted him again, “Please. It was… Beautiful.”

This time it was Sakuya who blushed. “I- You-” He was left looking at the rock dove.

Ryouta walked a bit closer to Sakuya, unable to rip his eyes away from the nobelbird. Sakuya tried to step back, but was greeted with the keys of the piano.

“I’m sorry,” Ryouta began, “I just had to know who was playing. And I-” He finally looked away from Sakuya. “The melody, Clair de Lune… I couldn’t get it out of my head… You just played it so…”

“Tout en chantant sur le mode mineur; L'amour vainqueur et la vie opportune; Ils n'ont pas l'air de croire à leur bonheur; Et leur chanson se mêle au clair de lune,” Sakuya recited with a sigh.

Ryouta looked back into Sakuya’s eyes.

“The poem,” Sakuya explained, “and the song. They mean quite a bit to me. I’ve only ever enjoyed them in private until…” He gave a look of anger, “Do not tell a soul what you’ve seen, mongrel.”

Ryouta put his wings up defensively, “Of course, Sakuya!” He paused, blushing, “But, if it’s alright with you, I’d like to hear you play more.”

Sakuya looked down at the music he was holding, face turning read under his feathers. “Alright.”

And so the two birds sat, one playing his tune on the piano and the other listening. Ryouta couldn’t quite place what he felt in this moment, but later he would realize it was love.


End file.
